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Topic: The Easter Message (Read 469 times)

In the UK at least, Easter seems to be a period of “considering the state of the world.” And every journo and his dog get in on the act. I was reading the newspaper (link behind a pay-wall) and there was the piece headlined, “Fallen man will destroy the Earth but we greens made him wait.” The author (a lapsed Catholic[1] and “Environmental Editor” of the newspaper) observes,

“Rather, the idea of Fallen Man gives potent expression to the prominent part that the human character, which has been observed through the ages with horror: out terrible potential for causing suffering to others, and indeed now for destroying our own home (all of which, liberal secular humanism prefers not to look at). In the Christian world view, humankind is not basically benign. People are not good but they can be redeemed. That’s the point, the unique selling point, if you like, of Christianity.”

This is simply wrong thinking: It is religion that tells you that you are bad; it is religion that forces you to feel guilty about everything. Listen! People are basically good; they really are!

There are, and have always been, more people who do not commit crimes and do not behave badly than those who do. The worse we can say of 99.99% of the population is that they are a little negligent with things that don’t directly affect them and, being as they have their own lives to lead, their own kids to bring up and their own job to do and problems to solve, this is not unreasonable.

The next thing he claims is that the “greens” have delayed final disaster – I suppose that is in the way that “Rock against Racism” and “Ban the Bomb”, and all the other protest movements succeeded -> well, they didn’t.

If you have to think about the state of the world because of the myth of Jesus, at least think about it as a general success story: never before have so many people been able to live on the planet. Never before have welfare services been better, never before have we been able to help those in distant lands, never before has disease and infirmity killed so few, never before have housing conditions, public hygiene, the availability of food and water been as good. Think, “What have the Romans ever done for us?” and you’ll have an idea of what this last 100 years have brought us. And it has bugger all to do with Christianity.

OK, the absolute numbers of disadvantaged are high, but in relative terms, we are in paradise. In case you think that this is manipulating statistics, bear in mind that cities advance quicker than rural areas because people can talk to each other and see new ideas far more quickly, so there is an up-side to high population as well as the obvious down-side.

And when you think of the care with which our ancestors dealt with the planet, it was abysmal. Their only saving grace was that there weren’t enough of them to really foul things up.

So, at this time of year, as the sun god rises from his slumber and the goddess of fertility turns your mind to unholy thoughts, take time out from your liberal and idealist concerns and thank yourselves for being reasonable people.

our terrible potential for causing suffering to others, and indeed now for destroying our own home (all of which, liberal secular humanism prefers not to look at). In the Christian world view, humankind is not basically benign. People are not good but they can be redeemed. That’s the point, the unique selling point, if you like, of Christianity.”

This is simply wrong thinking: It is religion that tells you that you are bad; it is religion that forces you to feel guilty about everything.

I agree. In fact, most of your thoughts I agree with. These are good springlike "easter" thoughts, GB.

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People are basically good; they really are!

However, driving along in the US, past way too many road raged overweight smoking people screaming at their children to stop asking questions like morons or they'll get stabbed, claiming that only guns and god can save us, accusing Obama of getting murka into this economic mess, and claiming that only turning deserts into glass will fix murkas problems, I sometimes wonder.

However, driving along in the US, past way too many road raged overweight smoking people screaming at their children to stop asking questions like morons or they'll get stabbed, claiming that only guns and god can save us, accusing Obama of getting murka into this economic mess, and claiming that only turning deserts into glass will fix murkas problems, I sometimes wonder.

And I wonder how much the Christian concept of Original Sin feeds that bad behaviour. When you have people convinced that their good works are without value, and that they can get forgiven for the bad stuff just by asking, with no other restitution required of them... I really wonder.